1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to categorizing images. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to precisely and efficiently detecting pornographic images located on the Internet or within email communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Offensive images, e.g., pornographic images, are often available on the Internet, and are often sent in email communications to unwitting parties. Pornography is prevalent on the Internet, both in legal and illegal forms. Some parties may find it offensive to view pornographic images. For other parties, viewing pornographic images may result in legal liability issues.
Images may be categorized using a text-based analysis and categorization. While text-based analysis and categorization may be effective in categorizing pornographic images, a text-based analysis and categorization is generally only effective when a significant amount of text is included in a web page or an email associated with an image. When little or no text is present in a web page or an email, a text-based analysis and categorization is ineffective. Similarly, if text is presented in an image rather than in raw form, e.g., on a web page or an email associated with the image, text-based analysis and categorization is also ineffective.
Some techniques, as for example computer vision techniques, used to identify pornographic images require a significant amount of processing time and, therefore, may not be efficiently used to process relatively high volumes of data. In addition, the precision associated with many techniques is insufficient to accurately categorize small images, e.g., thumbnail images, and may be inaccurate. For example, images of individuals wearing swimsuits may be inaccurately identified as pornographic images. Requiring significant processing time, requiring high image resolution, and providing insufficient precision results limits the ability to efficiently and effectively identify pornographic images.